If you wanna come by and vibe, maybe even hear me read you a book, just slide in the server.
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28 years after the death of Himmel the Hero, at the Northern Plateau Border Checkpoint, located in the Nachricht Region
Senken's roadside food stall had, over the course of the winter, served many customers. Mostly due to the fact that, despite a few bitter weeks, the winter had been a temperate one. Plenty of snow, enough to collapse Senken's furs twice, but a distinct lack of frigid winds helped coax people out to his chosen space for the various foods he had been able to cook.
Sometimes, people brought their own foods, root vegetables, pickled items, and salted meats that they asked him to cook for them. He readily did, and as with all his cooking, they paid what they thought was appropriate. A lot of the time, they gave copper pieces, several when they really enjoyed it.
Only one person consistently paid with silver. His first, and most loyal customer.
Genau.
The mage came whenever Senken was there, regardless of the weather, asking for whatever he would make and paying with a single silver every time. It was solely by this mage's generosity that Senken was able to afford to rent a space inside a home and not have to sleep outside.
It was also Genau who had informed him that the Continental Magic Association was going to be hosting a second-class mage exam, there, at the border checkpoint. The exam itself would consist of two tests, measuring a mage's ability to process and complete tasks appropriate for a second-class mage.
Senken would have thought himself lucky, blessed by the goddess or some other deity, if he hadn't thought it more coincidental. The only mage at the checkpoint in winter happens to be announcing a mage exam, one such thing Senken needed in order to even try for another mage exam? Perhaps he was just lucky, and he let that thought define his experience. Nevertheless, that day, Senken had given Genau a grateful smile, for the information and the money for his food, and retired to the room he had rented.
However, the room he ended up with was less a room and more the root cellar a family had to keep their preserves good. He laid on the packed dirt floor, on top of his cloak, and would sit in that darkness amongst the various jars and vessels.
It was down there; Senken contemplated another spell. While he could deal with the cold, it took its toll on him. He needed more heat to keep warm, being as large as he was. Furnace would keep him warm, of course, but that was akin to using a forest fire to cook a steak. Useable, but impractical. The joke spell that heated his heels was likewise inefficient; he wouldn't burn his sandals unless he absolutely needed to.
He had to circulate mana through his body in such a way to produce and carry heat. An innately difficult idea, considering Mana liked to simply sit in his chest, stagnant and heavy.
There had been only one day where Senken had refused to serve anyone. He had spent that day's morning finding tinder, as he usually did, before using his dismantle to mince and shred cuts of venison and boar, as well as several onions. The day before, he had made it a point to not clean the pan he usually used, leaving the heavily cooked on remnants there to be removed today, with a bit of stock and scraped until that flavor was pulled up into what would be his sauce.
The meat and onion mixture was patted into shape, a large disk, and was set within his sauce, before the whole thing was set within the little mud oven to cook through. Had he some butter, he would have cooked them separately, but he had been unable to find anyone willing to trade for it, so he would have to thicken the sauce with heat alone.
Senken couldn't help but feel Uraume would have been unimpressed with this demi-glace.
As he awaited the cook to finish, he shifted on his feet, squatted as he was next to his oven, using the ambient heat to keep warm as he mulled over his newest spell. There were plenty of vehicles throughout his body to carry the heat. Bones probably wouldn't be that good, if he didn't get the heating right, he would cook himself. Same with nerves, he didn't want to risk paralysis if he did this wrong. Skin would work, but it would need more mana as it was the outermost layer.
So, he would need to warm his muscles, or his blood vessels. It was there, Senken felt he had an epiphany. He had seen a technique that had centered around blood before and had even been used against him in the battle in Shinjuku.
The Kamo Clan's treasure, blood manipulation.
It solved the entire issue, really. A set pathway through his body that would distribute heat in a near constant cycle. However, Senken felt he couldn't just think of Flowing Red Scale, and call that a spell.
If he was going to make blood manipulation, he was going to make the entire technique. Control over one's own blood, totally.
With a small application of Schrein, the tip of his finger was cut, blood slowly beginning to well from the wound. All Senken had to do was visualize the mana in his body saturating the blood. Filling it like one would fill their lungs with air. He could visualize the blood being laden with mana. With a quiet command, he willed the blood upwards, to defy gravity.
"What are you doing?"
Senken's concentration popped like the bubble of blood he was about to make, the wordless spell slipping from his grasp as he turned his head to see Genau standing there, collar pulled high against his neck to brave the bitter wind.
"I cut myself." Senken answered.
"Do you stare at every nick you get?"
"Only when I'm not sure how deep it is." Senken hadn't been the best at lying, but he was at least proficient in bullshitting.
Genau turned his attention to the clay over, spotting the handle of Senken's one pan sticking out from it. "What's on the menu today?"
"Ah," Senken voiced, realizing he hadn't thought to make anything else today. "Just a Hamburg steak."
Genau leaned a little more under Senken's awning, getting a look into the oven properly. "...that is a very big Hamburg steak."
"It's supposed to be. It's tradition."
"For?"
"My birthday." Senken answered, grabbing the handle of the pan and pulling it out. The sauce beneath the large mound of ground meat was bubbling and dark, thick like a sauce should be. The top of the meat was brown, nearly black, but as it moved down the sides it turned into an unappetizing gray.
"My mom would always make one for my birthday. It's a tradition from her family. Or something like that."
Senken adjusted his grip, readied, and with a hefty flick of the wrist, the steak lifted out of the pan, just enough that Senken could shift the position of it beneath the meat, and catch it again, the whole meal having been flipped with only a minor splatter of sauce. The top of it was now this beautifully glazed dark brown, the glaze covering all imperfections.
Genau eyed it stoically. "How much for some?"
Senken casted a look up at the mage, taking an inhale of the meal.
"It's free, just eat with me."
And so, using the pan as a plate, the two mages shared this oversized meal, forks sliding into the pebbly meat, grabbing it and sauce alike and enjoying the meal as best they can.
Despite the look, Senken was dissatisfied with the Hamburg steak. The meat was slightly pink in the middle, something he hadn't wanted, and the sauce was very one dimensional.
His mom would have made it better.
When the meal was finished, Genau stood up slowly, adjusting his jacket as the wind picked up.
"Happy Birthday, Senken." He said simply, turned, and left.
Senken watched him go and lifted the pan to get to cleaning it. Hidden from view, he saw on his little counter, Genau had set two silver coins.